Journal of Advances in Information Technology Vol. 7, No.
1, February 2016
The Influence of Culture on Instagram Use
Ali J. Al-Kandari
Gulf University for Science and Technology/Mass Communication, West Meshrif, Kuwait
Email: Alkandari.j@gust.edu.kw
Ahmed A. Al-Hunaiyyan and Rana Al-Hajri
Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET)/ Computing Department, Shuwaikh, Kuwait
Email: {aa.alhunaiyyan, ra.alhajri}@paaet.edu.kw
Abstract—Instagram, the photo and video-sharing social
medium, is rapidly gaining popularity. The State of Kuwait
presents an excellent case for exploring the influence of
culture on Instagram use. Like other Arab countries, the
traditional culture of Kuwait greatly affects the attitudes
and behaviors of its People. It is interesting to examine the
influence of gender on Instagram use activities. In Kuwait,
the culture, besides security reasons, inhabits females from
disclosing contact information. The central theme of this
research paper is to understand gender differences on
Instagram use by Kuwaiti higher education students. This
study confirms that males are more likely than females to
post their personal pictures on Instagram, more likely to
disclose their personal information and more likely to have
public accounts unlike females who are more likely to have
private accounts than males. 
Index Terms—social media, gender differences, cultural
differences, media and culture, usability, Instagram
I. INTRODUCTION
Instagram, the photo and video-sharing social medium,
is rapidly gaining popularity and preference with more
than 200 million users [1] and 13% of the total users of
social media placing it fourth in rank after Facebook,
Twitter and Pinterest [2]. It is a social media application
that allows people to share with others their daily life
activities, lifestyles, habits and interests in pictures and
videos. Instagram is easy to operate, and it only requires
downloading, choosing a username and password, and
finally posting pictures that others see. People can either
upload posts taken instantly or stored ones from their
mobile phone gallery.
Like other social networks, Instagram is built on
having followers like family, friends or strangers who
follow the updates of Instagrammers’ life via posted
pictures and videos. Created profiles include personal
information and a picture to identify the account. People
either create public, directly accessed, accounts or private
ones that require seeking permission from the
Instagrammer before viewing the posts. Once following
Instagrammers, followers can view the pictures and
videos’ timelines. People viewing the posts can interact
Manuscript received August 8, 2015, revised November 22, 2015.
© 2016 J. Adv. Inf. Technol.
doi: 10.12720/jait.7.1.54-57
with what they see by pressing the “Like” button or
provide comments to express their opinions on the posts.
The State of Kuwait presents an excellent case for
exploring the influence of culture on Instagram use. Like
other Arab countries, the traditional culture of Kuwait
greatly affects the attitudes and behaviors of its People. It
is interesting to examine the influence of gender on
Instagram use activities. In Arab countries, females have
been subjugated by a cultural conservatism. The status of
Arab females has improved; yet, variations between
genders still exist because of “local traditions and social
customs” [3] which “has always been a marked
preference for boys over girls” [3]. This paper begins
with literature review, hypothesis, method, results, then
discussion and conclusion.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Wherever Females compose the majority users of
many Social Networking Sites (SNS) [4], Facebook [5],
MySpace [6], Twitter, Bebo, Flickr [7] and Pinterest [8].
Conversely, males make up the majority of Google’s
users (71%) [8], Digg, YouTube and LinkedIn [6]. These
surveys confirm that the nature, functions and design of
social media determines their users and effects. Females
prefer Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Pinterest because
they are interpersonal and discussion-oriented while
males favor Google, Digg, YouTube and LinkedIn
because they are information and content-oriented [9]-
[11]. We also argue that females prefer social media more
than males because these media are primarily social in
their nature and this nature is similar to the social makeup
of females.
Instagram use by males and females will not eschew
from those uses of other social media. Females use it to
socialize and provide opinion while males use it to collect
information and pass time. Both will use it to present
their daily life to others, however, the culture and
traditions of Kuwait may mediate such use. Females will
be more reserved about presenting themselves to others in
personal pictures because the “social attitudes have
remained relatively constant” [3] in the conservative Arab
and Muslim culture. In many times, “The Koran is far
more protective of women’s rights and status than is the
case with more recent social practices” [3]. This cultural
context is enforced by the Arab patriarchal kinship
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 Journal of Advances in Information Technology Vol. 7, No. 1, February 2016
system, which expects males to protect the family and
financially provide for it and females to have greater roles
at home and in raising children [3].
In addition, among the Arabs, family honor, which has
roots in the sexual conducts of females, is an important
value that has to remain unsoiled. If not bounded by
marriage, such conducts bring shame to family and
“blacken its face”. It is difficult to erase or restore a
dishonor. To prevent such conducts, many Arab countries
segregate between the two genders in places [12].
Furthermore, many families force their daughters to wear
Hejab because it communicates an image of a decent
female. Thus, many families will think that posting
personal pictures of females show them as having playful
and unrestrained character that seeks relations with males.
This is to avoid giving “rise to false impressions or
unfounded gossip” [3]. To the Arabs, “Guarding a
woman’s image is neither a personal nor a family choice;
it is imposed by the culture” [3]. Therefore, even if
females post personal photos, they have to appear sober
and modest in them and not reveal much of their bodies.
Also, females who have public accounts will avoid
posting their personal pictures in favor of pictures of
materials they own or places they go.
A. Privacy Settings
More females believe that there is risk online. They
report more about privacy concerns [13] and are more
likely to read privacy statements [14]. This interest in the
online privacy issues by females is perhaps because they
are more likely to be victims of online abuse. According
to the Working to Hold Online Abuse Organization [15],
73% of the 2500 online harassment and stalking cases
from 2000 to 2008 are for females. To maintain their
privacy, they create private accounts [16], support
privacy policies and provide false information [17].
Kuwaiti females will probably be more likely to create
private accounts on Instagram due to safety and more
importantly cultural reasons. Many fathers, brothers and
husbands will reject that females have stranger male
followers because it communicates a negative impression
or create bad reputation about the females. Conversely,
having a private account may communicate that a female
is moral and well-mannered. More likely, males will have
public accounts and followers from the opposite sex
because “The misbehavior by women is believed to do
more damage to family honor than the misbehavior of
men” [3]. The Arab culture treats males more favorably.
Males can go out with anyone and come back at any time
while females are restricted. Thus, they will limit their
Instagram’s relationships only to family and friends.
Even in the United States, 52% of females say that their
social media profiles are set private so that only friends
view them [18].
B. Information Disclosure
Females are extroverted and reveal more information
about themselves on MySpace [19] and Facebook [20].
This personal information includes their relationships,
preferences, jobs, and religious affiliations [21]. However,
more often than females, males provide their contact
© 2016 J. Adv. Inf. Technol.
information such as telephone numbers, emails and home
addresses on their SNS profile accounts [22]. Females
feel more worried about providing such information [4].
About 20% of them say they will share their location
details in comparison to 65% of males. Also, 55% of
males will share their email contact while only 42% of
females will do so [21].
In Kuwait, the culture, besides security reasons,
inhabits females from disclosing contact information.
This culture assumes that “the inherent personalities
between men and women are vastly different” [3].
Females who display contacts will be perceived as flirty
and frivolous. Displaying contact information will reveal
males flirty and wanting to contact females too, but the
culture is less critical to males. It gives them more
freedom in behaving and movement than females. It also
forbids interaction between males and females who are
strange to each other [3]. Generally, it is indecent if a
male and female stay behind closed doors or go out on a
date. That is why there is a separation between males and
females in social gatherings, schools and many
workplaces in Kuwait.
III. HYPOTHESIS
The central theme of this research paper is to
understand the influence of culture on Instagram use by
Kuwaiti higher education students. The following
research questions are posited: Accordingly, this study
tries to answer and confirm three hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Males are more likely to post their
personal pictures on Instagram than females?
Hypothesis 2: Females are more likely to have private
Instagram accounts than males.
Hypothesis 3: Males are more likely to reveal their
personal information on their profile accounts than
females?
IV. METHODS
The sample of this study includes university students
in Kuwait. This segment is chosen because it uses
Instagram more often that other age groups. About 539
university students participated in a questionnaire that
took about 10 minutes to fill out. It was distributed to
students who were enrolled in general education courses
to guarantee a sample representing diverse body of
students from different fields. Such courses were like
Introduction to Politics, Introduction to Physical
Education, Principles of Psychology, principles of
Business…etc. The questionnaire was originally in
English and translated to Arabic to control language from
being an artifact. It took about 15 minutes to fill out.
Subjects were told that there information will be
confidential.
V. RESULTS
This study seeks to confirm its three hypotheses. To
confirm them, independent t-test procedures were used to
find out the differences between males and females. The
first hypothesis stated, Males are more likely to post their
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 Journal of Advances in Information Technology Vol. 7, No. 1, February 2016

personal pictures on Instagram than females. The t-test “blacken its face” of the family [12]. “Guarding a
revealed that males (M = 1.82; SD = .38), more than woman’s image is neither a personal nor a family choice;
females (M = 1.49; SD = .50), posted personal pictures it is imposed by the culture” [3].
on Instagram (t(522) = 8.00, p = .001). This finding This is also similar to having public accounts by
confirms the first hypothesis. females. Families are more likely to reject that their
The second hypothesis stated that Females are more daughters to allow other stranger males to follow them.
likely to have private Instagram accounts than males. The Having males followers may shows a female who is a
t-test statistical procedure confirmed this hypothesis. playful. Such image is because “The misbehavior by
Males (M = 1.21; SD = .41) are more likely than females women is believed to do more damage to family honor
(M = 1.10; SD = .30) to have public accounts (t(520) = than the misbehavior of men” [3].
3.54, p = .001). Future studies might compare between Arab and
The last hypothesis which stated that Males are more Western females on the use of Instagram. Using a cultural
likely to reveal their personal information on their profile perspective might further highlight the influence on
accounts than females. The t-test revealed that More culture on the use of various social media. Future studies
frequently than females (M = 2.92; SD = 1.77), males (M might also examine age as a factor influence usage of
= 3.68; SD = 2.01) disclose their personal information Instagram in issues related to privacy settings, disclosure,
(t(527) = 4.49, p = .001). The third hypothesis is types of pictures posted, and level of involvements, etc.
confirmed. Table I bellow shows types of information,
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Dr. Ali J. Alkandari is an associate professor
of mass communication in Gulf University for
Science and Technology, Kuwait. He was the
director of research and development and dean
of admission and registration at the university.
His research interests include social media use
and effects.
© 2016 J. Adv. Inf. Technol.
Dr. Ahmed A. Al-Hunaiyyan is a faculty
member of the department of Computer and
Information systems at the College of
Business Studies, PAAET, Kuwait. He earned
his PhD. Degree in the field of Computer
Science, specializing in Multimedia interface
design, from Hertfordshire University, United
Kingdom. As of working experience, he
participated in various academic
institutions,in and out of Kuwait. Now Dr. Al-
hunaiyyan is a research associate at the faculty of computer science at
University of Malaya, Malysia. His research interest is Human
Computer Interaction (HCI), software Usability, Designing Educational
Multimedia Interfaces and social media.
Dr. Rana Alhajri is a faculty member in the
department of Computer Science at the Higher
Institute of Telecommunication and
Navigation, which belongs to The Public
Authority for Applied Education and Training
(PAAET) in Kuwait. She earned her PhD.
Degree in the field of Computer Science,
specializing in e-learning, from Brunel
University, United Kingdom. Her research
interest is Hypermedia, Individual Differences,
HCI, Usability, Multimedia Interface design in education in software
use and social media.
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